Thursday, March 28, 2024
Hawai'i Free Press

Current Articles | Archives

Tuesday, January 17, 2017
Wind Turbines Are Killing Way More Bats Than Any Expected
By Selected News Articles @ 3:10 AM :: 7480 Views :: Energy, Environment, Hawaii Statistics

Wind Turbines Are Killing Way More Bats Than Any Expected

by Andrew Follett, Daily Caller, January 16, 2017

Hawaii’s five major wind turbine farms are killing endangered bats about three times faster than anyone predicted.

The wind farms have killed more bats in the last 6.4 years than experts expected the turbines to kill over two decades. The wind farms have killed 146 endangered Hawaiian hoary bats out of the 187 they are permitted to kill by 2030. The same turbines have also killed roughly 50 nene, an endangered goose and Hawaii’s state bird.

Hawaii has 114 commercial wind turbines across six major farms. Turbines at the Auwahi Wind Farm, Kaheawa Wind Power, Kahuku Wind Farm, Kawailoa Wind Farm and the Pakini Nui Wind Farm all killed endangered bats. These wind farms generate a combined capacity of 192 megawatts of power.

The number of endangered animals killed by turbines is likely to grow as the state builds more wind farms to comply with green energy goals. The state government has plans to install an additional 3,000 megawatts of wind power.

“We don’t think the [wind turbines] mitigation measure and adaptive measurements have met the standards of the law,” Max Phillips, a policy adviser to the state’s legislature, told the Honolulu Star Advertiser. “Specifically with the Hawaiian hoary bat, we don’t really know how many bats there are. … Even at those numbers, if it’s only a couple hundred and if they are killing over 50 bats, that is a huge impact to the species’ base line.”

Population estimates of hoary bats for all islands range from a few hundred to a few thousand, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The bats have been listed as an endangered species since 1970 and are the only native land mammal of Hawaii.

Wind farms kill an estimated 573,000 birds each year as well as 888,000 bats, according to a 2013 peer-reviewed study published in Wildlife Society Bulletin. Wind farms are projected to kill 1.4 million birds annually by 2030. A single solar power plant in California killed an estimated 3,500 birds in just the plant’s first year of operation.

Wind farms in North Carolina were forced to pay a $1 million fine for killing 14 eagles and 149 other birds in 2013. An Oregon-based wind power company was fined $2.5 million for killing 38 eagles in 2015. Modern wind turbines create a powerful vortex that literally sucks eagles and other birds into them.

To put those numbers in perspective, the 2010 British Petroleum Gulf of Mexico oil spill only killed an estimated 800,000 birds, for which the company was fined $100 million. In the last five years, America’s wind turbines killed more than three times as many birds as the BP oil spill did.

---30--- 

Big Q: What do you think of wind farms, given their kill rate of endangered bats and birds?

Links

TEXT "follow HawaiiFreePress" to 40404

Register to Vote

2aHawaii

808 Silent Majority

Aloha Pregnancy Care Center

AntiPlanner

Antonio Gramsci Reading List

A Place for Women in Waipio

Ballotpedia Hawaii

Broken Trust

Build More Hawaiian Homes Working Group

Christian Homeschoolers of Hawaii

Cliff Slater's Second Opinion

DVids Hawaii

FIRE

Fix Oahu!

Frontline: The Fixers

Genetic Literacy Project

Grassroot Institute

Habele.org

Hawaii Aquarium Fish Report

Hawaii Aviation Preservation Society

Hawaii Catholic TV

Hawaii Christian Coalition

Hawaii Cigar Association

Hawaii ConCon Info

Hawaii Debt Clock

Hawaii Defense Foundation

Hawaii Family Forum

Hawaii Farmers and Ranchers United

Hawaii Farmer's Daughter

Hawaii Federalist Society

Hawaii Federation of Republican Women

Hawaii History Blog

Hawaii Homeschool Association

Hawaii Jihadi Trial

Hawaii Legal News

Hawaii Legal Short-Term Rental Alliance

Hawaii Matters

Hawaii's Partnership for Appropriate & Compassionate Care

Hawaii Public Charter School Network

Hawaii Rifle Association

Hawaii Shippers Council

Hawaii Smokers Alliance

Hawaii State Data Lab

Hawaii Together

HIEC.Coop

HiFiCo

Hiram Fong Papers

Homeschool Legal Defense Hawaii

Honolulu Moms for Liberty

Honolulu Navy League

Honolulu Traffic

House Minority Blog

Imua TMT

Inouye-Kwock, NYT 1992

Inside the Nature Conservancy

Inverse Condemnation

Investigative Project on Terrorism

July 4 in Hawaii

Kakaako Cares

Keep Hawaii's Heroes

Land and Power in Hawaii

Legislative Committee Analysis Tool

Lessons in Firearm Education

Lingle Years

Managed Care Matters -- Hawaii

Malama Pregnancy Center of Maui

MentalIllnessPolicy.org

Military Home Educators' Network Oahu

Missile Defense Advocacy

MIS Veterans Hawaii

NAMI Hawaii

Natatorium.org

National Christian Foundation Hawaii

National Parents Org Hawaii

NFIB Hawaii News

No GMO Means No Aloha

Not Dead Yet, Hawaii

NRA-ILA Hawaii

Oahu Alternative Transport

Obookiah

OHA Lies

Opt Out Today

OurFutureHawaii.com

Patients Rights Council Hawaii

PEACE Hawaii

People vs Machine

Practical Policy Institute of Hawaii

Pritchett Cartoons

Pro-GMO Hawaii

P.U.E.O.

RailRipoff.com

Rental by Owner Awareness Assn

ReRoute the Rail

Research Institute for Hawaii USA

Rick Hamada Show

RJ Rummel

Robotics Organizing Committee

School Choice in Hawaii

SenatorFong.com

Sink the Jones Act

Statehood for Guam

Talking Tax

Tax Foundation of Hawaii

The Real Hanabusa

Time Out Honolulu

Trustee Akina KWO Columns

UCC Truths

US Tax Foundation Hawaii Info

VAREP Honolulu

Waagey.org

West Maui Taxpayers Association

What Natalie Thinks

Whole Life Hawaii

Yes2TMT